Buffalo Herd Shot After Crossing New York Thruway, Hudson River

A small herd of buffalo have been shot and killed in upstate New York, after escaping a farm just south of Albany, swimming across the Hudson River, and crossing the New York State Thruway.

The buffalo herd escaped a small farm located in the Rensselaer County town of Schodack, just southeast of the capital, according to ABC News. The farm’s owner believes that the 15 escaped buffalo swam across the Hudson river into the nearby town of Bethlehem, where they wandered across the busy New York State Thruway, ending up in Coeymans. According to Brent Dragon, a dispatcher with the Bethlehem Police Department, the escape had been a surprise for many in the local community, as buffalo farms are hardly commonplace in the area.

Unfortunately for the buffalo, authorities determined that there was no easy way to recapture the herd, prompting the decision to euthanize the wayward animals. Experts asserted that portable corrals would be ineffective when applied to the situation, as would tranquilizers. Three men were hired by the farm to exterminate the escaped buffalo, according to the Boston Globe, and they caught up with the herd while it was stopped in a small stream in the woods outside of Coeymans.

Owner George Mesick authorized the killing, after it became apparent there was no way to move the buffalo safely back to his farm.

“I just want to get this done with as fast as possible so that no one gets hurt,” he said.

The buffalo extermination wasn’t accomplished easily, however, as Gawker reports. One of the men hired to shoot the buffalo was observed arguing with Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, ostensibly about the safety of nearby crowds who had gathered to watch the animals’ last stand. The man was taken into custody by police, and Sheriff Apple unfavorably compared the scene to the “wild west.”

Earlier this week, a similar incident transpired in Hot Springs, Arkansas. As the Inquisitr previously reported, six buffalo escaped a farm in the region, and though four were quickly recaptured, two remained on the loose.

Though the Albany buffalo herd began running at the sound of the first shot, all 15 were eventually killed.